Celtics’ Jaylen Brown receives ‘MVP’ praise from Bulls coach Billy Donovan

BOSTON — Ahead of the 2025-26 regular season, a lot of people were doubting the Boston Celtics. Many wondered how’d they fare without six-time All-Star Jayson Tatum healthy and if their new signings could make up for their significant offseason losses. Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan was not one of those doubters.

In fact, given how he spoke about the C’s on Monday night ahead of the Bulls’ first game against the Celtics this season, it’d be more appropriate to label him as a believer.

“When you lose great players it’s always going to impact your team,” Donovan said when asked about the new-look, undermanned Celtics. “But they’ve had very, very good personnel. I was very surprised over the year where a lot of people had them picked.”

That “very good personnel” has shined so far for Boston. Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla has developed the Green Team’s young talent and Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens continues to look like a top-tier NBA executive.

Perhaps his best decision was refusing to deal Celtics star Jaylen Brown (despite numerous trade rumors). Brown is averaging over 30 points per game and is fresh off a 50-point performance against the Los Angeles Clippers. The four-time All-Star’s consistent excellence is a big reason why the Celtics are 21-12 overall and in third place in the Eastern Conference.

“I got a lot of respect for Jaylen,” Donovan said. “He’s obviously playing at, probably an MVP level, at least in consideration.”

Billy Donovan has high praise for the Celtics and especially Jaylen Brown:

“He’s probably playing at an MVP level.” pic.twitter.com/aaqBLzUgKg

— Daniel Donabedian (@danield1214) January 5, 2026

Donovan isn’t just being polite to his hosts for the night, either. Brown has scored over 30 points in 10 of his last 12 games and is shooting a career-high 51% from the field. And with Denver Nuggets superstar and popular MVP candidate Nikola Jokic out for at least the next four weeks, the MVP chatter surrounding Brown has grown.

The 2024 NBA Finals MVP still has a lot of work to do before he can raise the Michael Jordan Trophy, but there’s no denying that he’s been a great leader — on the court and off the court — for the Celtics. The rest of the C’s have followed the example he’s set and helped Boston overachieve early.

“They’ve all been able to pick up a certain part of what Tatum brought to the table,” Donovan said of the 2025-26 Celtics.

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